Review by Shahere10 -- Why Can't Johnny Just Quit?

[Shahere10]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Why Can't Johnny Just Quit?" by Kyle Oh.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Why Can't Johnny Just Quit? written by Dr Kyle Oh is a non-fiction book that discusses addiction on physician's point of view and knowledge. Dr Oh discusses in details on the definition of addiction and abuse, the well-grounded reason for addiction, ways to prevent addiction and the current practice to stop addiction. Dr Oh is a pain management doctor who had carefully observe the effect of pain medications to his patients and how this medication leads to addiction.

Dr Oh explained beautifully on how do addicted people feel based on his research. He was also able to differentiate clearly between dopey and euphoric feeling. Most people misinterpret between addiction and abuse, and they point out that those people who are addicted to alcohol and drug have a lack of willpower. I do agree with Dr Oh that not all people will respond to drug or alcohol in the same way. Some might have euphoric feeling towards drug or alcohol, but some might not. Most of the people misunderstood on addiction because images portrayed on TV is wrong as media do not understand what the real high is.

This book has widened my knowledge on the pathophysiology of addiction. According to the medical theory as explained by Dr Oh, the number of dopamine (feel-good neurotransmitter) receptors increases due to repeated over-stimulation and this will lead to the craving of the drug or alcohol and causing addiction. Fortunately, the addiction now can be treated through drug (Suboxone) and psychological help through NA or AA meeting. Suboxone able to bind to the dopamine receptors without causing euphoric effect and psychological meeting is used to bring back the awful memory of being addicted to prevent further relapse.

I rated this book 4 out of 4 because it provides complete information about addiction, prevention and reasons for relapse. As a health practitioner, I think this book has widened my knowledge and help me to understand addiction better. It is good to know that the "Say No" campaigns do not overcome this issue successfully. We need to help people who suffer addiction to find a way out of their problem. The case study attached along in this book provides me with an overview of the successful treatment and relapse prevention. I did not see any spelling or grammatical error in this book, and there were no profane words seen. This book is well edited.

I enjoy my reading and I recommend this book to public readers; particularly to the health practitioners as a source of reference, victims, friends and family who are now fighting against addiction. This book brings hope that addiction can be cured and we can finally save our loves one. This book can be understandable by all readers, and the author did attach medical definitions at the end of this book which makes readers easy to understand this book as a whole.

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Why Can't Johnny Just Quit?
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